Mufasa: The Lion King
As Disney is working hard in studios, they are also giving fans a better look into an important character’s background through the new movie “Mufasa.” With an interesting plot and great music, “Mufasa” is a crowd-pleaser for both adults and children.
The movie “Mufasa” gives “The Lion King” fans a deeper look into the story of Simba’s father and uncle, Mufasa and Scar. It explores their past and what happened between them that would have caused Scar to kill Mufasa. This movie was directed by Barry Jenkins and written by Jeff Nathanson, while the songs in the movie are written by Lin Manuel Miranda. The whole movie was budgeted at $200 million.
Mufasa is two hours long and is rated PG so the whole family can watch.
The cast of the movie is Theo Somolu who voices young Taka, Braelyn Rankins who voices young Mufasa, Aaron Pierre as a grown Mufasa, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as a grown Taka, otherwise known as Scar, Tiffany Boone as Sarabi, John Kani as Rafiki and Preston Nyman as the voice of Zazu.
In the beginning of the movie, young Mufasa lives in a dry place with his birth parents, Afia and Masego. Afia is voiced by Anika Noni Rose, and Masego is voiced by Keith David. While he is with his parents it starts to rain, giving them water, so Mufasa and his parents go down to the pond and he begins playing in the water. As he is playing in the water, the pond begins to flood and while all the other animals are free, Mufasa is stuck on a boulder as the water gets higher and higher.
Masego jumps in to save him and throws Mufasa on a ledge where he has to jump to his mother, but Mufasa is afraid and as he's about to jump a huge wave comes in, separating him from his parents and carrying him out to sea and far away. As Mufasa is just drifting across the water, Taka finds him and tries to rescue him from some alligators who tried to eat him, but as he tries Taka becomes weak and is about to fall in with him. Taka’s mother Eshe, who is voiced by Thandie Newton, then scares off the alligators as Taka pulls Mufasa onto land.
Now Eshe is the mate of Obasi, who is voiced by Lenni James and is also Taka’s father and the king of pride where Mufasa drifted off to. Obasi doesn’t allow strays in his land and does not accept Mufasa. He says that Mufasa can only stay if he can beat Taka in a race to the dead tree and back.
As the race begins, Obasi trips Mufasa, which causes him to fall behind a little and he struggles to keep up with Taka. They make it to the tree, and on the way back Taka tells Mufasa that he always wanted a brother and lets Mufasa take the lead and win the race. Obasi is upset because he believes that Taka should have won, but Eshe congratulates him. Obasi agrees to let Mufasa stay, but he is told to stay amongst the lionesses. As the years pass, Mufasa and Taka grow up together as brothers, but they end up having to leave their home because white lions came to their pride and decided to take over. Mufasa and Taka keep running away from them and they end up meeting Sarabi and Zazu. From there, the brothers encounter more problems that lead to the tension “Lion King” fans are familiar with.
This movie gives a deeper look and understanding of Mufasa and Scar and what happened between them. The movie includes love, comedy, betrayal and many others that will keep viewers on their toes. It is a movie for the whole family and returning “Lion King” fans.